GLEN CAMPBELL DEBBY CAMPBELL by Tamela Meredith Partridge “Herald & Review” Newspaper Decatur, IL
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GLEN CAMPBELL DEBBY CAMPBELL by Tamela Meredith Partridge “Herald & Review” newspaper Decatur, IL. © 2008 Even after 50 years in the mu- sic business, Glen Campbell is still considered a triple threat -- ace guitarist, singer, and humorist. "As the late, great, Roger Miller used to say, 'I don't think I'm half as good as I really am,'" Campbell says with a laugh. "All kidding aside, I just hope that the audience leaves the show with a smile and are thoroughly entertained.” Campbell will perform at The Rosebud Theatre in Effingham on Sunday. "I've been fortunate to maintain a great band with long-term members," Campbell says. "I've also been blessed to have my daughter Debby as a vocalist in my shows since 1987. Debby has a wonderful voice and joins me on duets I recorded with such artists as Bobbie Gentry ("Less Of Me," "Let It Be Me," "All I Have To Do Is Dream") and Anne Murray ("I Say A Little Prayer")." Glen Travis Campbell, 71, was born the seventh son in a sharecropper's family of twelve children in rural Billstown, Arkansas. A child of the Depression Era, Campbell overcame difficult times through music. “I can’t ever remember a time in my life when I wasn’t playing the guitar,” Campbell says. At 16, Campbell pursued music full-time by playing guitar in his uncle's western swing band and other local groups. Moving to Los Angeles in his early twenties, Campbell became a top session player on recordings by such artists as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard, Jan & Dean, and the Righteous Brothers. "I was in a group of twelve session players called The Wrecking Crew," Campbell says. "The variety of music I got to play during those sessions was amazing." Upon invitation, Campbell toured with The Beach Boys for eighteen months in 1964-65 as a temporary replacement for Brian Wilson who was out on medical leave. Campbell's solo career breakthrough came with a 1967 cover of John Hartford's modern hobo song, "Gentle On My Mind." Other hits for the country and pop recording artist include "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," "I Wanna Live," "Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife," "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston," Rhinestone Cowboy," and "Southern Nights." "Tommy Smothers was the backbone of my solo career," Campbell says. "He saw me on The Joey Bishop Late Night Show saying some of my silly country things. As a result, Tommy and Dickie asked me to host their summer replacement series, The Summer Brothers Smothers Show. My career just took off from there." In 1969, the "Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" variety tv series debuted on CBS and quickly captured the weekly number one ratings spot. "That show knocked down a thousand doors," Campbell says. "Television is such an incredible media. I was on the air once a week singing and playing with a variety of extremely talented, yet often unusual, list of entertainment and musical guest stars. The exposure took my music and career to a level I never even dreamed was possible." .